Trump: Nunes Memo

Normally, I stay away from celebrity culture as well as politics. Celebrity culture to me seems mostly unimportant, drama-filled stories meant to distract people from real problems/issues. Politics on the other hand is largely biased to the point that the real story is almost impossible to find. With all the bias and corruption in politics, I simply won't follow it. However, I knew if I have to do a project over a "celebrity," I would probably end up doing one over someone in a controversy. Wouldn't you know it, President Trump and the GOP is experiencing another controversy; in this instance the Nunes Memorandum. This details an argument made against the President from a Liberal's perspective.

1: Straw Man
"The GOP wants you to believe that this is all some gigantic conspiracy theory involving Christopher Steele – whose dossier is NOT discredited – the FBI, the DOJ and the Democrats. They want you to believe that career FBI agents who are registered Republicans are biased against Donald Trump because something something. It’s all pretty f–king dumb"

The simplification of the Nunes memo makes it remarkably easy to fight against. Our author breaks the article into a few points, and does not provide much context for the memo as a whole (whether discussing why it was written or what it actually says.) They instead rely on a basic interpretation that people with similar mindsets will readily accept. Instead of providing the full Memo and analyzing it, they give a few easy-to-understand points that like-minded people will accept with no questioning. It's very easy to attack the memo when in this state, and it is done.

2: Accent
"a dry run for the larger war to come WHEN Donald Bigly tries to fire Robert Mueller."

They put a heavy emphasis on the firing of Robert Mueller performed by Donald Trump. Even though the action hasn't occurred, the placed emphasis on the (seemingly) high probability this will occur makes people believe it is a true possibility. It creates a motivation for the memo through the emphasis on the potential future. It uses the accent to highlight the potential future as a way to justify the argument as true.

3: Poisoning the Well
"The Nunes Memo basically throws glitter into everyone’s eyes and hopes that people will be temporarily blinded and just believe what the GOP says about the memo, rather than read what the memo actually says."

Before we even read what the memo says, the author goes out of their way to make sure we view it in a very particular light. The author influences how we will perceive it by "poisoning" our minds. This makes us more malleable to their point and opinion on the memorandum. They make sure we agree by influencing our opinions and not through facts.